Normally, I’m just bursting with warm-and-fuzzies when I bake for others. Receiving a picture text of my dad gleefully devouring the box of whoopie pies I sent for Thanksgiving or the comical message inquiring “are there crack in these?!,” are worth every mess, the minutes spent and the groceries purchased.

Luckily I was able to put on my big-boy-baker pants, get these things done and find that cookie joy I knew I had in me.

Now back to my revelation.

The thing that makes the GFBCS so magical, so special is the 360 degree joy; it lets the baker experience joy as the giver and the receiver.

Despite having a freezer full of cookie we’ve made over the past week months, we bakers really enjoy receiving something once in a while too. And they say that things always taste better when someone else makes it.

So bakers, keep baking because it makes you happy. And cookie-eaters, express that joy and that baker in your life is sure to keep your cookie jar full.

While the cookies cool, prepare the filling. Mix cream cheese and butter until creamy.

Slowly add the powdered sugar.Pour in the caramel and mix just until combined.

Frost the bottoms of half of the cookies and top with remaining cookies.

You can also roll the cookies in colored holiday sprinkles for a festive look.

The Send Off

After the cookies were baked and assembled I packaged them up in Tupperware with ribbon and tags I typed on our typewriter. I’m never sure the best way to pack the cookies, so I’m interested to find out if they make it in one piece.

Incoming Joy

I bet you’re wondering what cookies I got. I was incredibly lucky this year to receive cookies from three fantastic bakers. They were:

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cookies from Southern Sweets & Eats: First of all, these get an A+ for packaging. Each cookie was individually wrapped, which made it way to easy to pop one into my pocket on the way out the door…Second, they were delicious. Soft, a bit of spice and not overly sweet.

Sugar Cookies with Peppermint Frosting from A Clove of Garlic, A Pinch of Salt: As I was opening the box I was literally thinking “I hope I get something with mint” and there they were. Soft sugar cookies with just the right amount of mint. It was love at first bite.

Nutty Maple Date Cookies & Tropical Peanut Butter Balls from True Blue Baking: Jackpot! This generous baker included two types of cookies. The nutty maple date cookies knocked my socks of – I can’t wait to see what the frosting was on top of those things. The PB balls were a solid and winning combo. A-mazing.

Now in its third year, the premise is this: eligible food bloggers sign up. Receive the addresses of three other food bloggers. Send each of them one dozen delicious homemade cookies. Receive three different boxes of scrumptious cookies from other bloggers. Eat them all yourself (or, you know, share. If you want. No judgement either way.) Post your cookie recipe on your blog. See everyone else’s cookie recipes. Salivate. Get lots of great ideas for next year’s cookie swap. Rinse and repeat.

Participants donate $5 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer and the swap’s sponsors match our donations. This year the group raised $13,778.40!

So I’m personally not really into scones – especially for breakfast. I need some major protein to kick off my day and usually opt for an egg white sammie with some veggies on top. Mike on the other hand is digging them, so I’ve been experimenting with flavors and lightened-up recipes.

Gina over at Skinnytaste created this recipe that I tweaked slightly – it was incredibly easy! Enjoy.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375°. Combine the first four ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in chilled butter with a pastry blender, or you could use two knives, until the mixture in crumbly. Gently fold in raisins. Add milk mixture, stirring just until moist.

Place dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly four times with floured hands. Form dough into an 9-inch circle onto baking sheet, about 3/4″ thick. Using a knife,cut dough into 12 wedges all the way through.

Bake until golden, about 18-20 minutes, depending on your oven.

While the scones bake, mix together the milk, cinnamon and powdered sugar to make the glaze.

It’s that time again! November Oktoberfest, our annual (and purposely belated) tribute to the epic 16-day festival that has been held every year in the motherland since 1810.

The first year we hosted this party I was much more strict about the food being only traditional dishes, but I love that the menu has evolved to incorporate many Wisconsin delicacies like deviled eggs and beer cheese dip.

Although I still get the urge to make schnitzel and potato salad, years past have proven that items that require a knife and fork tend to be difficult. With our tiny apartment and lack of seating it is much easier to graze.

The brewmaster himself.

Confirming that I am my mother’s daughter I always experience a moment of panic that we won’t have enough food…but of course, that wasn’t the case.

Here’s what we served this year:

Appetizers

A Selection of Sausages – we included a beer sausage from our local meat market in the mix

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Well in my dad’s case, I’m pretty sure that journey to his heart requires the key that unlocks the door to his sweet tooth.

After a failed attempt at pumpkin fudge (my dad loves fudge), I have to admit I was feeling down. Still wanting to bring something for him when I flew home last weekend, I went back to baking basics and whipped up some pumpkin whoopie pies.

Whoopie pies are a fairly new dessert concept for me (but check out my first attempt – Peanut Butter Banana Whoopie Pies), so I was curious to learn more. Here is what Wikipedia said:

The whoopie pie (alternatively called a black moon, gob (term indigenous to the Pittsburgh region), black-and-white, bob, or “BFO” for Big Fat Oreo) is a US baked good that may be considered either a cookie, pie, or cake. It is made of two round mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, or sometimes pumpkin or gingerbread cake, with a sweet, creamy filling or frosting sandwiched between them.

In another large bowl combine sugars, oil, pumpkin and vanilla. Mix in eggs.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until the batter is smooth.

Line baking sheet with baking mat or parchment paper.

Using a small cookie scoop, place dough onto pan about one inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a tooth pick comes clean.

Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for two minutes. Then transfer cookies onto a cooling rack and allow to cool for one hour.

To make the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl for one to two minutes, or until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then add the maple syrup and vanilla and beat until nice and creamy.

Place frosting in a gallon size Ziplock bag and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

To assemble the whoopie pies, turn the cookies upside down. Then snip a small corner from the Ziplock bag and pipe the frosting around the bottom of the cookie. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the frosting. Press down slightly. Store pumpkin whoopie pies in the refrigerator to firm before serving.

Since Mike began making beer two or so years ago I feel like I have gotten a pretty good handle on how to incorporate it into recipes, especially desserts.

Recently, he purchased the necessary equipment to brew beer using the “all-grain” method which involves steeping the grains instead of purchasing liquid extract. Since we don’t have any cattle in the backyard to feed it to, this posed a fun new challenge of finding ways to use the spent grain (the bi-product of steeping the grains and removing the sugars) in recipes. After some botched experiments (grain chocolate chip cookies anyone?) I found a great spent grain bread recipe. It uses three whole cups of spent grain and produces a hearty, dense loaf. Smear a slice with homemade apple butter or dunk it in your favorite chili.

Homemade bread

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup wheat flour

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. commercial yeast

3 cups spent grain (Make sure to run the grains through a food processor. This is key to break down the husks and create a smoother texture.)

¼ cup of sugar

¼ cup olive oil

1 egg (beaten)

1 cup of milk

Instructions:

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in. Incorporate the wet into the dry and knead the dough by hand for five to ten minutes.

Shape the dough into ball and let rise in oiled, covered bowl until doubled–about 90 min. Punch down and divide. This makes three medium-sized loaves or two large loaves. Score tops with a knife.

Pre-heat oven. Bake at 350F for 40 min, until deep golden brown. You can also sprinkle water on them towards the end of the baking process to create a crunchy top crust.

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (10 minutes), or transfer to an electric mixer with a dough hook and mix 10 minutes on medium speed; add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands.

3. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.)

4. To make filling: Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add apple; sauté 3 minutes. Add apple juice and cinnamon. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 3 minutes or until liquid is almost absorbed. Remove from heat; set aside to cool completely.

5. To assemble: Punch dough down. Cover; let rest 5 minutes. Divide dough into 12 equal portions. Roll each into a 3-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Divide filling among dough rounds; gather dough over filling to form a ball, pinching seam to seal. Place fritter, seam side down, in a 12-cup muffin pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining dough and filling. Cover and let rise 40 minutes or until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 400°.

6. Uncover dough; bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pan; cool on wire rack. Whisk all glaze ingredients together in a small bowl; drizzle over fritters and serve.

As we quietly glided through the calm lake water and the darkening evening sky was being painted with stokes of pink I could almost hear a familiar voice with an Australia accent narrating the scene…

“There she is. The rare North American porcupine emerging from the woods at the shore directly ahead.”

Maple Lake in Northern Wisconsin is a truly peaceful and serene place. Its remote location and abounding wildlife offers the ability and privilege to reconnect with nature and the people around you.

Over the past few years, Mike’s parents have been enjoying vacations to Maple Lake where Mike’s uncle owns land and a cabin and we were lucky enough to spend two nights there during our last trip home. My favorite thing about visiting Maple Lake was sharing in Kathy and Steve’s favorite cabin pastimes and routines – especially the sunrise and sunset safaris, water sports and family meals.